The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member schools that range from New York, North Carolina, and Florida in the east to California in the west. It is headquartered in St. Louis, in the same complex that also contains the offices of the Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference. Unlike most other Division I FCS conferences, the Pioneer League consists of institutions that choose not to award athletic scholarships ("grants-in-aid") to football players.
The University of St. Thomas is a private Catholic research university with campuses in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1885 as a Catholic seminary, it is named after Thomas Aquinas, the medieval Catholic theologian and philosopher who is the patron saint of students. As of fall 2021, St. Thomas enrolled 9,347 students, making it Minnesota's largest private, nonprofit university.
The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Missouri and Oklahoma to the South. Founded as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982, it rebranded as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989, then again as the Summit League on June 1, 2007. The league headquarters are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Thomas Henry Nobis Jr., nicknamed "Mr. Falcon", was an American football linebacker who played for 11 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, where he played as a linebacker and guard, and won the Maxwell Award in 1965. He was the first overall selection in the 1966 NFL draft.
Thomas James Wright is a Northern Irish football coach and former player who currently is the manager of Northern Ireland’s under 21 team.
Stephen Christopher Spagnuolo is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He rejoined Andy Reid in 2019 after being a defensive assistant with him from 1999 to 2006 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He has coached four top-ten defenses as a defensive coordinator in terms of yardage. He has won four Super Bowls as defensive coordinator, one with the New York Giants and three with the Kansas City Chiefs, making him the only coordinator in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises. Some historic defenses that Spagnuolo has coached throughout his career include the 2007 New York Giants defense and the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs defense.
The Cigar Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game held in Tampa, Florida that featured teams from smaller college programs. There were nine editions of the bowl, which was usually played on or around New Year's Day each season from 1946 through 1954. It was played at Phillips Field, which was located across the Hillsborough River from downtown Tampa at the current site of Tampa Preparatory School and Julian Lane Riverfront Park. Its name was inspired by the local cigar industry, which had been the main driver of Tampa's growth from an isolated village to a prosperous city around the turn of the 20th century.
Neal Evan Guggemos is a former NFL defensive back and kick returner. He played for the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants.
Thomas Herbert Arrowsmith, also known as Tommy Ryan, as was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The St. Thomas Tommies football program represents University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Football began at the university in the late 1890s and the first official varsity intercollegiate games were played in 1904. St. Thomas was a charter member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, formed in 1920. In 2019, the MIAC announced that St. Thomas would be "involuntarily removed" from the conference at the end of the spring 2021 athletic season citing "athletic competitive parity" concerns. St. Thomas received approval from the NCAA to begin competing at the NCAA Division I FCS level as a member of the Pioneer Football League starting with the 2021 season and became the first program to jump from NCAA Division III to Division I FCS.
Champions Indoor Football (CIF) was a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from the Indoor Football League and two expansion teams.
The 1996 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. They participated as members of the Southeastern Conference in the West Division. Coached by Tommy Tuberville, the Rebels played their home games at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
The 1954 Army Cadets football team represented the United States Military Academy in the 1954 college football season. In their 14th year under head coach Earl Blaik, the Cadets compiled a 7–2 record and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 325 to 127. In the annual Army–Navy Game, the Cadets lost to the Midshipmen by a 27 to 20 score. The Cadets also lost to South Carolina by a 34 to 20 score.
The 1958 Indiana Hoosiers football team represented the Indiana Hoosiers in the 1958 Big Ten Conference football season. They participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. The team was coached by Phil Dickens, in his first year as head coach of the Hoosiers.
The 1911 Denver Ministers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Denver as a member of the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) during the 1911 college football season. In their first and only season under head coach Thomas A. Barry, the Ministers compiled a 5–2–1 record, tied for second place in the RMC, shut out six of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 81 to 22.
Thomas Glyn Doyle is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, on loan from Manchester City. He will join Wolverhampton Wanderers permanently on 1 July 2024.
The 1937 St. Thomas (Pennsylvania) Tommies football team was an American football team that represented St. Thomas College during the 1937 college football season. The team compiled a 6–1–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 109 to 33. The team played its home games at Athletic Park in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The 2007 Columbia Lions football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University during the 2007 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Columbia finished last in the Ivy League. Columbia averaged 4,172 fans per game.
Velus Tyler Phillip Jones Jr. is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC before transferring to Tennessee.
The 2022 St. Thomas Tommies football team represented the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota as a member of the Pioneer Football League (PFL) during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by 14th-year head coach Glenn Caruso, the Tommies compiled an overall record of 10–1 with a mark of 8–0 in conference play, winning the PFL title. St. Thomas was ineligible for the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs due to the program's transition from NCAA Division III. Davidson received the PFL's automatic bid to the playoffs. The Tommies played home games at O'Shaughnessy Stadium in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
